Project Description

My dissertation research investigates how social calls – non-song vocalizations produced by humpbacks across their migratory range – function as a form of communication on northern latitude foraging grounds, and seeks to assess what impact low-frequency vessel noise may have on humpback whales’ ability to communicate.  Humpback whales are a highly vocal migratory baleen whale whose social calling repertoire is comparatively understudied.  Humpback whales worldwide produce social calls, but their role in singing behavior, social interactions, and foraging contexts, remains unknown. Further, as humpback whale populations increase these animals are increasingly likely to interact with vessels.  Boats produce pervasive, broadband, low-frequency, noise that overlaps considerably with the humpback whale social calling repertoire.  I intend to assess whether low-frequency vessel noise masks humpback whale vocalizations while on their foraging grounds, and whether humpback whale alter their vocal behavior in the presence of vessel noise.

To achieve this goal under the guidance of Drs. Holger Klinck and Dave Mellinger, and in association with Chris Gabriele of the National Park Service, I will deploy a four-hydrophone array within a historic humpback foraging ground in Glacier Bay National Park, Southeast Alaska.  The hydrophone array will allow for vocalizing animals to be acoustically located underwater, and for critical acoustic parameters to be calculated.  This coupled with visual data taken from a shore-based observing station will allow me to determine the vocal and social behavior of humpback whales in both the presence and absence of vessel noise.  This data will then be further analyzed for signs of altered behavior as a function of noise levels within the park. The results of this study will inform park managers, and marine resource managers, of the tangible impacts of vessel pressure on humpback whale communication as well as expand what is currently known about how humpback whale use acoustic space .

The  Rapunzel Project: Investigating non-song vocal behavior in Southeast Alaskan humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Alaska Whale Foundation (AWF)
Principal Investigator/Internship Supervisor
(Master’s Research)

Objectives
·       Collect, classify and describe Southeast Alaskan humpback whale non-song vocalizations
·       Quantify variation in call use as a function of social/spatial context

Marine Mammal Detection and Seasonal Variation in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea

NOAA- Cooperative Institute for Marine Resource Studies (CIMRS)
ORCAA
Research Assistant/Acoustic Analyst

Objectives
·       Acoustically detect and identify marine mammals in the high Arctic
·       Quantify seasonal variation of marine mammal space use in the Beaufort Sea

Marine Mammal Abundance, Diversity, and Seasonality in Oregon’s Coastal Ocean

ORCAA
Project Coordinator

Objectives-
·       Quantify marine mammal biodiversity in Oregon’s coastal ocean
·       Quantify seasonal variation in marine mammal distribution in Oregon’s coastal ocean